A mum-of-three found the corpse of a venomous African spider inside a bunch of bananas - having just fed one of the pieces of fruit to her two-year-old son.

Nicola Yeomans, 27, said the shock almost made her faint after the furry six-inch beast fell out of the pack she bought from Tesco in Gorton .

Nicola said the discovery left her ‘traumatised’ as her son, Freddie, had eaten one of the bananas for breakfast just moments earlier.

The eight-legged carcass was inside the 80p bananas, sourced from Cameroon, which the full-time mum bought during her weekly shop the previous night.

Nicola - who lives with her sons Bobby, seven, Freddie, two, and daughter Sadie, 15 months - has since sent the arachnid back to the supermarket for scientific testing.

It is believed to be a huntsman spider, an eight-eyed beast from the Sparassidae family, which is known to bite humans.

Nicola said: “It was terrifying because I didn’t know what it was. It was a monster.

A mum-of-three ‘almost fainted’ when she found the corpse of a venomous African spider inside a bunch of bananas (Image: Mercury Press & Media Ltd)

“I didn’t know if it was alive, or if there was another one. I wondered had it laid eggs?

“Freddie had just walked off with his banana and I went into a panic in case there were bits of the spider mixed in with the food. I was really worried.

“It looked absolutely disgusting. It was repulsive. It fell on the floor and I was just screaming. The kids didn’t know what to think.

“Eventually I realised it wasn’t alive and put it in a bowl, but I was traumatised and sick with worry.”

After returning the remaining bananas to the store Nicola, from Denton, was originally offered an 80p refund, which she described as ‘unsatisfactory’. Tesco have since written to her enclosing a £15 moneycard.

Hunstman spiders’ bodies can grow to 2.8cm in length, and females can carry up to 400 eggs at a time. They feed on insects, scorpions and even bats.

Nicola Yeomans (Image: Mercury Press & Media Ltd)

Tesco has now sent the huge spider to its specialist team for further investigation.

Nicola said: “I brought it to the customer service desk and the girl there nearly jumped out of her skin.

“I showed them the spider and what was left of the bananas. I explained what had happened and they gave me an 80p refund but I don’t think that reflects the stress I went through with three screaming kids.

“I’m not satisfied with the response at all. I believe they’ve frozen the spider and sent it away and it’ll be six weeks before they get the results.

“It’s difficult when you’re trying to encourage your kids to eat healthily and you discover a massive dead spider in their breakfast.

The letter from Tesco (Image: Mercury Press & Media Ltd)

“I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt but I’ve been back and bought the same packet to discover half of the bananas are black.

“If you buy a bunch of bananas and every one you peel is like that half way through, so that out of every banana you can only take a maximum of two bites, would you be pleased?

“No, especially not if you had previously found a massive spider in them. My kids have to eat this stuff I am buying.

“I don’t think I should have to keep doing my shop and getting home to find i can’t eat half of it.

“It’s a waste of time and money. I could keep throwing them away and not say a word, but I have every right to complain because otherwise it won’t change.”

Nicola Yeomans' son Freddie (Image: Mercury Press & Media Ltd)

A spokesman for Tesco said: “We sell millions of bananas every week and our growers work hard to clean and inspect all the fruit carefully, however, given the freshness of our produce this sort of thing can happen on very rare occasions.

“We’ve apologised to Ms Yeomans and will update her on the findings of our investigation.”